When complete, the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, located near Tonopah, Nevada, will feature 110-megawatts of new concentrating solar thermal power capacity.

SolarReserve erects tower for largest concentrated solar thermal plant being built. The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant, the world's largest concentrating solar power plant being built which uses molten salt, finished an important milestone.

Concentrating Solar Power SolarReserve Reaches Major Construction Milestone. SolarReserve, a U.S. developer of large-scale concentrated solar thermal power projects, announced completion of the 540-foot solar power tower for its 110 megawatt (MW) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant.

SolarReserve, a U.S. developer of large-scale concentrated solar thermal power projects, announced completion of the 540-foot solar power tower for its 110 megawatt (MW) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant located near Tonopah, Nev. Utilizing the most advanced solar thermal technology worldwide, the Crescent Dunes Plant will be the nation’s first commercial-scale solar power facility with fully integrated energy storage and the largest power plant of its kind in the world.

Ivanpah Concentrating Solar Power Project Is More Than 92 Percent Complete

22/05/2013 Evwind,

As the Ivanpah project nears completion, the team continues to move full steam ahead. During the months of February, March and April, more than 1,250 construction workers advanced the project to more than 92 percent complete.

To date, more than 153,990 of the project’s total 173,500 heliostats have been installed. Several stunning photos below show recent progress at the site.

In April, the Ivanpah team commenced “steam blows” at Unit 1. During steam blows, upwards of thousands of heliostats are focused on the solar boiler to achieve the desired temperatures, pressures and flow rates. The goal of the steam blows is to clear out any mill scale or debris inside the pipes so it does not damage the steam turbine and other balance of plant equipment once operational. A normal start-up process for any conventional power plant, steam blows are part of the “load ascension” program, which includes focusing an increasing number of heliostats onto the boiler and methodically raising the temperature and pressure of the steam produced.

Unlike other solar-powered electrical plants, the new Solana Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) keeps the sun’s energy working after dark to produce electricity for APS customers across Arizona.

Unlike other solar-powered electrical plants, the new Solana Generating Station keeps the sun’s energy working after dark to produce electricity for APS customers across Arizona. The three-square-mile facility near Gila Bend, Ariz., uses concentrated solar power (CSP) technology and thermal energy storage to capture the sun’s heat to generate clean, renewable electricity. (Photo: Business Wire)

Solana represents an important technological advance in solar energy production compared to the more-common photovoltaic technology, which needs direct sunlight in order to produce electricity. The three-square-mile facility near Gila Bend uses concentrated solar power (CSP) technology and thermal energy storage to capture the sun’s heat to generate clean, renewable electricity.

This technology enables Solana to produce electricity at full capacity for up to six hours after sunset, including the early evening hours when customer demand for power typically peaks in Arizona.

“Solana is a monumental step forward in solar energy production,” said Don Brandt, APS President and Chief Executive Officer. “Solana delivers important value to APS customers by generating power when the sun isn’t shining. It also increases our solar energy portfolio by nearly 50 percent. This provides a huge boost toward our goal to make Arizona the solar capital of America.”

Solana is one of the largest power plants of its kind in the world with a capacity of 280 megawatts, enough to provide energy for 70,000 Arizona homes – a city the size of Yuma. APS is purchasing 100 percent of the output from Solana, which was constructed and is owned by Abengoa Solar.

The plant’s CSP technology produces electricity by collecting the sun’s heat to create steam that turns conventional turbines. The process begins with 2,700 parabolic trough mirrors, which follow the sun to focus its heat on a pipe containing a heat transfer fluid. This fluid, a synthetic oil, can reach a temperature of 735 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat transfer fluid then flows to steam boilers, where it heats water to create steam. The steam drives two 140-megawatt turbines to produce electricity, much like a traditional power plant.

What separates Solana from other solar power plants is the ability to store the heat from the sun up to six hours for electrical production at night. In addition to creating steam, the heat transfer fluid is used to heat molten salt in tanks adjacent to the steam boilers. The thermal energy storage system includes six pairs of hot and cold tanks with a capacity of 125,000 metric tons of salt, and the molten salt is kept at a minimum temperature of 530 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the sun goes down, the heat transfer fluid can be heated by the molten salt to create steam by running it through the tanks instead of the field of parabolic mirrors.

Although DEWA will announce the winner in one month, following its assessment of last technical and economical features, a first key aspect is that three of the best bids offered by multi-national players are hitting or even below 10 €cts/kWh while the installed capacity in STE worldwide is just around 5 GW compared to nearly 500 GW for wind and 300 GW for PV. In other words, STE costs were divided by 3 in just 10 years (2007-2017) with just 1% of the market volume for wind and less than 2 % of the market volume of PV!

This comes already after SolarReserve offered 6.54 US cts/kWh in Chile in August 2016 for a STE 120-MW plant, where in addition to the best solar resource in the world, the country’s stable financial status along with US dollar denominated power contracts results in excellent financing and investment terms......................

DEWA Awards AED14.2 Billion Concentrated Solar Power Project With a Record Bid of USD 7.3 Cents Per kW/h to Generate 700MW

September 16, 2017 evwind

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has achieved another world record by awarding the 700MW AED14.2 billion fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This is the largest single-site Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in the world, based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model. The contract is awarded to a consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Shanghai Electric.

The consortium bid the lowest Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of USD 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h). The project will have the world’s tallest solar tower, measuring 260 metres. The power purchase agreement and the financial close are due to be finished shortly. The project will be commissioned in stages, starting from Q4 of 2020.

“Awarding this strategic project supports the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to promote sustainability, and make Dubai a global centre for clean energy and a green economy. This vision is supported by the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to increase the share of clean energy in Dubai’s total power output to 7% by 2020, 25% by 2030, and 75% by 2050.

“Our focus on renewable energy generation has led to a drop in prices worldwide and has lowered the price of solar power bids in Europe and the Middle East. This was evident today when we received the lowest CSP project cost in the world,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD&CEO of DEWA.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world, based on the IPP model. It will generate 1,000MW by 2020 and 5,000MW by 2030. The 13MW photovoltaic first phase became operational in 2013. The 200MW photovoltaic second phase of the solar park was launched in March 2017. The 800MW photovoltaic third phase will be operational by 2020, and the first stage of the 700MW CSP fourth phase will be commissioned in Q4 of 2020.

Xina Solar One Concentrated Solar Power plant completes first month of operation, South Africa

October 18, 2017 evwind

The US$880 million Xina concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Pofadder, South Africa has successfully completed its first month of commercial operation. Mott MacDonald was lenders’ technical advisor during the project’s financing and construction stages and will now monitor operations in an ongoing role.

Awarded during the third round of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme (REIPPP), the 100MW plant is expected to generate approximately 400GWh of energy per year. This will be sufficient to provide electricity to 95,000 homes, while the use of CSP will prevent the emission of 348,000 tons of CO2 annually.

As well as using parabolic trough technology with 5.5 hours of thermal energy storage, Xina also features the largest parabolic trough collector used in a commercial CSP project to date.